“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams

That’s how one of the greatest photographers in the world once put it. If you look at photography as an experience, or a passive action, you’re signing up for disappointment. Life isn’t a movie, and you aren’t a mute, helpless spectator. You are as much a part of the frame you are creating as the elements in the composition. For it is you who decides what to capture, and what to crop out.

Are there rules to guide you through the process? Of course. Do they guarantee a good photograph? Obviously not. But they’ll surely set you on the right path. As leading photographers of indoor settings, we’ve learned some invaluable lessons along the way. And we feel that we owe it to the world to disperse some of this information. What knowledge you gain of it is completely up to you. Whether and when you stick by the rules/guidelines/tips we are about to mention is also solely your discretion. After all, rules don’t make a photograph. Inspiration does. Like the great man said,

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” ― Ansel Adams

So, do interiors, too, lend themselves to creative innovations? Every single scene you encounter – indoor or outdoor, filed with concrete or in the wilderness, with or without life in the frame – will give you ample opportunity to improvise. You can either record the present in  its unadulterated form, or use it to tell the story in your head, or go for any shade of grey between these two extremes.

When it comes to places, each one has a soul.

A simple image of a dining room with a table and three chairs can take you to another dimension of time where an aging couple once ate, always leaving the third place empty and set up for a son who never came back from the battlefield. Alternatively, it can paint a possible future where one of the chairs is adjusted precariously to host a newborn in his infant seat while two obsessive new parents dote on her. What you do with the elements in your frame, how you light them, where you place your camera and at what angle- all this and more can decisively tell distinct stories and evoke a gamut of emotions in the viewer.

“The life of the creative man is led, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.” – Susan Sontag 

We can only give you the first few building blocks to the immense structure that you’re going to build next. Good luck and have fun at it!

Dig in:

• Why you need a photoshoot?
• Basic rules of interior photography